STORIES 423

“W ldwl-Glanixaksa,’ “Please come rain.’’

First it began to sprinkle, then to rain more heavily, and steadily
increased until there was a torrent; the stream overflowed its banks, put
out the fire and drained down into the hole, ruining the fern. The women
who had been sleeping, protected only by their cedar-bark cloaks, suffered
considerable inconvenience and discomfort. All night it rained, and the
next day also, making further fern-gathering out of the question. After
a wet, uncomfortable picnic, the young people were forced to return to
Kimsquit without obtaining the food for which they had set out. Mink
gloated to himself. The women, who suspected he had caused their dis-
comfiture, asked all the people who had remained at Kimsquit whether
or not Mink had been seen during their absence. As nobody had seen
him, their suspicions grew almost to certainty, but there was no evidence
of his having followed the party, so he escaped the punishment that would
have been gladly meted out to him.

Not long afterwards a war-party bound for Kimsquit passed the home
of Crab, a woman, who called out to them:

“Please kill that villain, Mink.”

Mink, who was hiding within ear-shot at the time, came out as soon
as the party had passed, and said fiercely to Crab:

“What do you mean by trying to have me killed?”

“T said, please take care of my dear Mink, and make him bright and
shining like the sun,” she replied falsely.

“That is a lie,” said he, fiercely.

He seized Crab by her arms and legs, pulled them from her body and
tore all into small fragments which he threw into the ocean.

“Stay there and serve as food for men,” said Mink.

Since then, crabs have lived in the ocean near Kimsquit and have
served as food for men.

HOW MINK TOOK HIS REVENGE

An old woman who used constantly to gather clams on the seashore
was much troubled by Mink. One day when a raiding party was passing
she asked their destination.

“We are going to fight Mink,” they replied.

“That is excellent,” she responded.

A few days later when they repassed her house on the return journey
the old woman asked them if they had been successful.

“Yes,” they replied. ‘We have destroyed Mink’s town and made him
a slave.”